


Keep you safe

by curiumKingyo



Category: BBC Sherlock
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bounty Hunters, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 15:49:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1121694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiumKingyo/pseuds/curiumKingyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a promp in the kinkmeme.</p><p>John and Sherlock are bounty hunters in the Cowboy Bebop universe. Sherlock is working too hard to catch the infamous Moriarty. John doesn't like it...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep you safe

  
“Is there something wrong with the ship's receptors?” John asked Sherlock over his shoulder, trying to tune his computer into the Big Shot channel.

“No” Sherlock didn't even bothered looking at John, typing furiously into his own keyboard.

“You seem to be using SSW” John stated. “Why it's not working here?”

Sherlock sighed, John could be so obtuse sometimes...

“It's because I'm working with Edward Radical.” Sherlock didn't need to turn around to know that John's eyebrows were lifted. The ex-soldier patiently waited for a clarification and 22 seconds later Sherlock gave in and replied with what sounded like a complete answer to him. “Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV.”

“Who?”

“A very young and abnormally intelligent terran child. Female, long and flexible limbs and quick reflexes if the way she types is anything to go by. She also owns a dog.”

“Right, and exactly why the SSW is not working in my computer?”

“Because I'm using all the receptor's power” Sherlock explained like he would to a child.

“I want to watch the Big Shot!”

“You don't need to. We already have a target: Moriarty. And that's why I'm working with Edward Radical, she can scan and cross information much better than me. Probably even better than Mycroft himself.”

John shook his head in despair and made a frustrated noise, wondering why the hell he still put up with Sherlock.

“You know why, don't even bother asking me.”

John didn't, he left Sherlock with no further words. When the sound of his steps died in the distance, Sherlock looked over his shoulder with an unreadable expression. He needed to capture Moriarty as soon as possible, he couldn't let that bastard kidnap John again. His guts twisted with the memory of that episode, John's small frame covered with red dots of laser aims, his own body shining with dancing points of light. Sherlock shook his head and shut his eyes, regaining control; he turned back to the screen and kept analyzing the data provided by Edward Radical.

Apparently Edward Radical didn't overpowered the Holmes siblings only in her capacity of crossing information, but also in the unhealthy skill of keeping awake for insane amounts of time. When John came back to the communication room the following day he found Sherlock sleeping in front of the computer screen, his chin resting in his curled fist and dark circles under his eyes. The doctor sighed and gently changed Sherlock's position to a less uncomfortable one, and wrapped his jacket around his shoulder as well. He looked up at the screen and Edward was still transmitting data and chatting with Sherlock, apparently they have been working together for 27 hours already.

“S_Holmes, why you don't reply?” Edward's sentences were written in an aggressive shade of orange.

“He is sleeping” John typed, “you should sleep too.”

“Who is?”

“I'm S_Holmes's friend, John.”

“The dear doctor?” Edward's message was followed by a curious looking little face. John rose his eyebrows.

“I am a doctor, yes” he said. “I'll turn this channel off now, okay? I want to see the news.”

“Oki doki! Bye!” the curious looking face smiled widely and disappeared as John closed the communication channel.

John tried to concentrate in the news channel, but his eyes kept drifting back to Sherlock's sleeping form. How come he could look so beautiful when obviously exhausted was a mystery. John stopped trying to watch the news and decided to watch Sherlock instead. He started to examine his sleeping friend, trying to make some deductions about him. Sherlock always insisted that he should improve his deducting skill after all, so he focused his attention on the brunette bounty hunter.

First deduction: Sherlock's been completely absorbed in finding Moriarty. Not a difficult one, but he was a beginner so it could be forgiven. He could deduce it from the bitten tips of Sherlock's index fingers; John knew that when he is too focused in something he keeps his indexes touching his lips and eventually bites the tips in frustration.

Second deduction: he was very frustrated. If the bitten fingers weren't enough, the buttons in his left cuff were only half done, so he'd been opening and closing his cuffs a lot lately. In other words, he'd been using those bizarre antiquities he was found of: nicotine patches. Wich he only uses when his frustration levels rose too high.

Third deduction: based on the previous ones, it was easy to deduce that Sherlock's state derived from too little sleep and food. He'd been negligent with his health again, and that made John growl in frustration. His curls were hanging more to the left, so he'd been craning his neck, probably to look at the immensely long data boards Edward sent him; he may be needing glasses.

John looked at Sherlock's face, his eyes were moving quickly under his eyelids. REM sleep, he thought, grateful that the bounty hunter's body would get the deserved rest. He stopped trying to deduce things about Sherlock and simply watched him for a bit longer before going to the ship's kitchen to prepare something for their lunch.

When Sherlock woke up there was a faint smell of spicy food in the air, his neck was hurting like hell and John's jacket was around his shoulders enveloping him in his partner's scent. He shivered and stood up before any improper thought formed in his head. He went to the kitchen and found John cleaning his gun while whistling something Sherlock couldn't recognize.

“You should sleep more” John said as a greeting.

Sherlock said nothing in reply, just went to the oven and retrieved some food, wich he ate quickly, and went back to the communication room. John stared at his back with incredulous eyes and feel his precariously balanced humor crumble.

He stood up abruptly, knocking the gun oil flask and the flannel he was using off of the table. Sherlock's long legs had led him far when John left the kitchen, but the doctor's anger made him reach his friend quickly.

Sherlock looked down at him with still blurry eyes, looking even paler and thinner than ever. He tried to speak, but John cut him off.

“Where do you think you're going?”

“Communications.”

“Like hell.” John's blue eyes were hardened by something that was not really anger, was closer to frustration. “You're going to your quarter and sleep!”

“Can't sleep now” Sherlock said, but it was easy to see how much he needed to sleep, his reflexes were slow and his eyelids were only half opened. “Must find Moriarty.”

John narrowed his eyes and took a step closer to Sherlock. He was shorter than the brunette bounty hunter but something in his posture made him look so respectable it was like he was an entire foot taller than Sherlock. The sleepy man tried to overpass him, but John blocked his way and gripped his forearms rather forcefully. Sherlock's eyes widened but he didn't struggle.

“Stop this, Sherlock, you will find him later. Now you need to sleep!”

“I can't waste time, John” Sherlock simply couldn't find himself able to look into the blonde's eyes. He wanted to protect John from Moriarty, that's why he couldn't waste time in trivial activities such as sleep and eat.

“Sleeping is not a waste of time. You need it, you know you need.” John's hand came to Sherlock's chin and forced the taller man to look into his face. Sherlock shivered, the smaller bounty hunter's eyes felt like drills, digging into his skin and trying to reach his soul. He realized that what John was feeling wasn't frustration either, it was worry and a considerable amount of care. When he recognized what was tinting John's face, many things fell into place in Sherlock's mind, he felt his exterior wall collapsing too. He leaned forward, resting his forehead on the top of John's head.

“But I need to find him soon” Sherlock managed to whisper, “so I can keep you safe from him.”

John's eyes went wide, but soon he came to the same enlightenment as Sherlock did. His arms slowly curled around the taller man's slim waist and he pressed their bodies closer.

“But what good will it be to me, if I got safe from him without you by my side to enjoy this?”

Sherlock wrapped absurdly long arms around John's strong shoulders and slowly lift his face so he could look at the blonde. Now he could clearly see the worry and care in John's stare, his blue eyes shining and the eyebrows angled in a beautiful way.

“I need to keep you safe from him” he tried to reason.

“And I need to keep you safe from yourself” John's words were like voiced honey to Sherlock's ears. John gave him a soft smile and went to his tiptoes, tilting his head a bit so he could reach Sherlock's smiling lips.


End file.
